Method of manufacturing magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording

Abstract

A magnetic head includes: a pole layer including a track width defining portion and a wide portion; and an accommodation layer disposed on a bottom forming layer and having a groove that accommodates the pole layer. The groove includes a first portion for accommodating at least part of the track width defining portion, and a second portion for accommodating at least part of the wide portion. A manufacturing method for the magnetic head includes the steps of; forming a groove defining layer on a nonmagnetic layer that is intended to later become the accommodation layer; forming a mask that covers an area of the nonmagnetic layer where to form the first portion of the groove; etching the nonmagnetic layer so that the second portion of the groove is formed in the nonmagnetic layer; removing the mask; and taper-etching the nonmagnetic layer so that the first portion of the groove is formed in the nonmagnetic layer and the groove is thereby completed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording that is used for recording data on a recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]The recording systems of magnetic recording / reproducing devices include a longitudinal magnetic recording system wherein signals are magnetized in a direction along the plane of the recording medium (the longitudinal direction) and a perpendicular magnetic recording system wherein signals are magnetized in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the recording medium. It is known that the perpendicular magnetic recording system is harder to be affected by thermal fluctuation of the recording medium and capable of providing higher linear recording density, compared with the longitudinal magnetic recording system.[0005]Magnetic heads for perpendicular magnetic ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0021]According to the method of manufacturing the magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording of the present invention, the step of forming the groove in the nonmagnetic layer includes the step of forming the mask, the first etching step, the step of removing the mask, and the second etching step. This makes it possible to form a pole layer that is capable of preventing the problems resulting from the skew, capable of defining the track width accurately, and capable of improving the recording characteristics. According to the present invention, in particular, the sidewall of the second portion is already formed before the nonmagnetic layer is taper-etched so as to form the first portion of the groove. This serves to suppress an increase in the angle formed by the sidewall of the second portion with respect to the direction perpendicular to the top surface of the substrate. Consequently, according to the present invention, the advantageous effects described above become more pronounced.

Problems solved by technology

On the other hand, as the track width is reduced, the recording characteristics, such as overwrite property which is a parameter indicating overwriting capability, suffer degradation.

In a magnetic disk drive of the perpendicular magnetic recording system, in particular, which exhibits better capability of writing on a recording medium compared with that of the longitudinal magnetic recording system, the skew mentioned above can cause problems such as a phenomenon in which, when data is recorded on a certain track, data stored on a track adjacent thereto is erased (the phenomenon is hereinafter referred to as adjacent track erasing), and unwanted writing between two adjacent tracks.

This results in degradation of the recording characteristics such as overwrite property.

A portion of the side surface of the pole layer near the boundary between the track width defining portion and the wide portion is difficult to form accurately.

Accordingly, as the neck height is reduced, it becomes difficult to accurately define the width of the track width defining portion in the medium facing surface, that is, the track width.

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